French Open: Paes-Dlouhy storm into doubles semis

PARIS - Defending champions Leander Paes of India and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic breezed into the semifinals of the French Open tennis men’s doubles with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Poland’s Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski here Tuesday.

The third-seeded Indo-Czech pair converted all four break point opportunities to knock out eighth-seeded Fyrstenberg and Matkowski in 58 minutes.

Paes and Dlouhy, who also won the US Open last year, will now be challenged by 10th seeds Julian Knowle of Austria and Israel’s Andy Ram, who are contesting their first Grand Slam championship as a team.

Knowle and Ram defeated Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and 54 minutes.